Muscovites
struggled to breathe on Monday and Red Square was blanketed in smoke as a
record-setting heatwave that that has already ruined crops caused fires
that set the area around the capital ablaze.

The emergency ministry said 34
peat fires and 26 forest fires were blazing on Monday in the area
surrounding Moscow, covering 59 hectares (145 acres). Experts warned the
air had become dangerous.

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State-run
RIA news agency said airports serving Moscow, a city of 14 million, had
been unaffected by the thick smoke, whose sharp, cinder-filled smell
permeated the city and crept into offices, homes and restaurants via
windows and doors.

"This is awful.
It is going to damage people's health," said telephone engineer Davit
Manukov, 25, standing by the Kremlin where black clouds of smoke
enveloped its golden onion domes.

The
emergency ministry said it was the worst such attack since a smog
outbreak in 2002, which was also a result of smoke from fires caused by
hot weather.

The Moscow government
agency overseeing air pollution, Mosekomonitoring, told Reuters the
amount of harmful impurities in Moscow's air exceeded the norm by 5-8
times.